How Filton Airfield development could become an urban setting under latest plan for extra homes

New plans submitted for the Brabazon arena development propose thousands more homes
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A developer creating a housing estate next to the proposed Bristol Arena want to add another 1,000 homes to the site - before potentially adding thousands more over the next three decades.

YTL Developments has submitted a planning application to update its masterplan for the Brabazon development on the former Filton Airfield, raising the number of homes in the first phase from 2,675 to 3,675.

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The group has also set out its ambition to build a maximum 6,500 homes at the site, once better transport infrastructure is in place, such as a mass transit system and rail routes to Bristol Parkway.

The change in plan, the developer says, will make the area more urban than the surburban setting initially drawn up, while also creating more commercial space to create 30,000 jobs, rather than 10,000.

The development at Brabazon would sit next to Bristol ArenaThe development at Brabazon would sit next to Bristol Arena
The development at Brabazon would sit next to Bristol Arena

YTL has also reaffirmed that work will start on Bristol Arena this year.

Seb Lyon, planning and development director for YTL, said: Bristol and South Gloucestershire face a housing crisis and need to build more than 100,000 new homes within the next two decades.

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“But it is not enough to just build homes: if we are to tackle the climate crisis, we need to make sure we build more sustainable homes in the right places. This means on brownfield land along existing transport corridors like at Brabazon, where public transport connections and active travel routes provide a genuine alternative to car-dependent lifestyles.”

A train station would be built called North Filton to serve the development under the plansA train station would be built called North Filton to serve the development under the plans
A train station would be built called North Filton to serve the development under the plans

He added: “Crucially, additional homes and offices will only be built as and when improved public transport connections come forward.

“The proposals submitted have a series of checks and balance in place to ensure that increased density can only be delivered at the same time as the additional public transport needed to support it.”

Along with new homes at the site, new community facilities would include three new schools, a library, doctor’s surgery and sports facilities, all surrounded by landscaped public squares and parkland.

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A railway station, called North Filton, would be created on a new line called Henbury Spur which would connect the site with Bristol Temple Meads.

The project at Brabazon is part of the Cribbs-Patchway New Neighbourhood (CPNN), which did have plans for 1,000 homes at Patchway Trading Estate. But with that proposal dropped, YTL seek to bring in those earmarked homes into its own plan.

Approval for the first masterplan was given by South Gloucestershire Council in 2018. The council will now decide on the new planning application in the coming months.

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